Author Spotlight
Lauren West
As Winter sports hit the peak of their season, Seniors Daniel Hammond (baseball), Destiny Ray (track) and Emily Cooper (soccer) are preparing for the season with winter conditioning.
DANIEL HAMMOND: BASEBALL
Q: When did conditioning start? Who runs it? What days do you condition?
A: “It started the first week after thanksgiving break. Coach Lead runs the drills off of his program and he runs alongside us. We go every Tuesday and Thursday, Tuesdays are running days which is mostly sprints — In baseball we don’t do a lot of long distance so we focus on the sprints. Thursdays are competition days so we break into random teams and have fun competitions and there’s a workout punishment for the losing team.”
Q: What are the coaches looking for?
A: “Attendance isn’t mandatory, but showing up shows that you care about the season. They are looking for hustle and dedication, and it’s not about who’s the fastest, but who’s putting in the work.”
Q: How long have you been playing baseball at East?
A: “I played baseball at Rockhurst my freshman year on the freshman team and my sophomore year on varsity. Then I transferred from Rockhurst as a junior, and then I’ve played varsity the last two years at East.”
Q: As a senior, what leadership can you bring this season?
A: “I like to lead by example and lead by hustle, I’m very vocal on the field and at conditioning. We are lucky to have kids that have been in the program for all four years, and we have nine to 10 seniors this season, so there’s lots of leaders who can set examples.”
Q: What are you looking forward to most this season?
A: “Beating Blue Valley again — it’s our first game and we beat them last year, but they won State. And of course chasing the ring, it’s always the goal to go win the State Championship. We really have the skill and passion to do it this year, and we won’t stop till we get it.”
DESTINY RAY: TRACK ANDD FIELD
Q: When did conditioning begin? Where does it take place? Who runs it?
A: “It started after winter break. We knew everyone would be busy with the holidays, and it’d be better to work off all that food after winter break. We always start inside in Stallards room and go down the hall to do a warm up lap, but when its nice outside we will go out to do accelerations and sprints. Mondays we do sprint drills and we work on dorsal flags and posture. Tuesdays are box jumps and stretching and Thursdays are all about lifting weights. Stallard always starts by giving us announcements and updates, but when it’s time to start conditioning seniors usually lead the lines.”
Q: What are the coaches looking for?
A: “They look for speed, or people’s energy towards it [conditioning]. They watch for progression and take note of what events people would be good in.”
Q: How many years have you been doing track?
A: “I’ve been doing track for all four years at East. In sixth grade, I competed in the Little Olympics and in middle school I decided to join a club team.”
Q: As a senior, what leadership can you bring this season?
A: “It’s good to be a leader because you get to help the underclassman kids who don’t know anything about the sport.”
Q: What’s your goal for the upcoming season?
A: “This season I am trying to break as many records as I can and bring home a State trophy for the girls team, because girl power!”
EMILY COOPER: SOCCER
Q: When did conditioning begin? Who runs it? What types of conditioning do you do?
A: “We started on first day back from break and condition everyday after school Monday to Thursday from three to four. Normally, we start by warming up, if [Coach] Kelly is there he will run it and if not seniors will lead. We start with stretching then do a variety of running drills and sometimes, if its nice enough, we go play outside. Kelly likes to split the four days between sprints, long distance, weight lifting and a combination on the last day.”
Q: What are the coaches looking for?
A: “Kelly doesn’t base tryouts on conditioning. It’s totally optional and more about your personal drive to get in shape at a scheduled time with a group of friends. I went as a freshman to help get in shape for the season and it’s definitely something I’d recommend.”
Q: How long have you played for East?
A: “I’ve been playing all four years. I played varsity as a freshman and following three, hopefully four years, unless Kelly changes his mind.”
Q: As a senior, what leadership can you bring this season?
A: “In my past years, we have had a lot of great senior leaders that have given me examples of what to do. The important thing is lead by example which is why I go to conditioning. It can be hard because for seniors it’s easy to pull the ‘seniority rule’ and act like you don’t have to do things, but the more we work together as a team the better.”
Q: What are your goals for the upcoming season?
A: “We definitely want to go to state, my past couple of years we have had the talent but sometimes the chemistry was not the best and it shows. I really want us to do things outside of school like team bonding events. Lots of girls have come up and asked if we can play laser tag or soccer golf and I’m all for it. I also want to beat beat rivals, I have never beat Shawnee Mission West in the three years I have been here. Last year we would let a goal slip in the last minute of the game so finishing strong and just playing the best we can.”
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